War in Heaven: Trouble on Earth (Matthew 2.13-23 and Revelation 12.1-17)

Introduction

Well, the feasting is over, the fridge is looking its normal self, the TV specials are all behind us, the dustmen have been, and the grandparents or the grown-up kids have all gone home.

So it feels quite appropriate that our reading this morning picks up the Christmas story with the Magi now on their way home - v13; “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared...”

“When they had gone...” Just like in my house and maybe yours, for Joseph and Mary the excitement is now over, the gifts have all been opened, (gold, frankincense and myrrh - a bit left field, but let's not be judgemental), the wrapping has been tidied away, the house was heaving with extra people - and now they’ve left. It’s back to normality...

How does it feel?

For Joseph and Mary, it has been an eventful few weeks! Long stressful journey, hotel from hell (fresh cowpat in the bedroom - that’s going on Trip Advisor), an inconvenient moment for the waters to break, unexpected visitors, weird presents... that went well didn’t it? But now we are back to normal.

The planet keeps turning. Time passes. Life moves on.

The Dark Side

Once the Magi have gone, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he says... “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child (your child) to kill him.” I'd call that a nightmare.

On the screen is a painting called The Scene of the Massacre of Innocents painted in 1824 by the French artist Léon Cogniet. It depicts a terrified woman holding her young child. Look at her hand covering his mouth in a desperate attempt to silence the noise of his crying. People are running in panic around her. She’s trying to hide but she’s hopelessly exposed. She’s cornered. Literally. Her child is doomed.

There are two angles to the story of Jesus’ birth. In Luke’s gospel, it’s full of wonder and angels and joy and friendly farm animals and simple shepherds. It has a warm glow to it. But in Matthew you see a much darker and heavier side.

Only in Matthew do you find:

·         the crisis in Joseph and Mary’s relationship that brings them to the brink of divorce

·         and five weird dreams

·         and a desperate family fleeing for its life

·         and the evil villain Herod, who doesn’t feature at all in Luke, but he dominates the scene in Matthew

·         and of course this appalling massacre of innocent children in v16-18

Such were Herod’s vanity and paranoia that he thought nothing of committing atrocities like this, in order to cling on to power.

We know from sources outside of the Bible that he was neurotic and he routinely had people executed (including his wife and three of his sons) in order to preserve his position.

It is another reminder of what the Bible everywhere asserts; that evil is real. It’s why Jesus told us to pray the God will deliver us from it. Scripture says that many antichrists will come into the world. Herod was one of the first and, sadly, we haven’t seen the last.

The reading from Revelation says, in highly symbolic language, that what we see physically on earth has an unseen spiritual reality behind it.

There is a demonic assault on life, on the family, on the gospel, on truth itself - and this is what it looks like. The Bible doesn’t sugar coat the Christmas story or any other story; it tells the truth; it tells the whole truth.

Now we’re going to focus in on the woman’s face in Cogniet’s painting. Notice her eyes wide with fear, with alarm… there’s a look of disbelief on her face.

I’m going to use her face as a lens through which we can see and feel the suffering of the persecuted church today.

Last year, the Independent newspaper carried an article with the headline: Christians: the world’s most persecuted people. And here’s an extract…

“3,000 Christians of Mosul who were driven from their homes in northern Iraq last week by Islamist fanatics who broadcast a fatwa from the loudspeakers of the city's mosques ordering them to convert to Islam, submit to its rule and pay a religious levy, or be put to death if they stayed.

The last to leave was a disabled woman who could not travel. The fanatics arrived at her home and told her they would cut off her head with a sword.

The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 100,000 Christians now die every year, targeted because of their faith – that is 11 every hour. The Pew Research Center says that hostility to religion reached a new high in 2012, when Christians faced some form of discrimination in 139 countries, almost three-quarters of the world's nations.

All this seems counter-intuitive here in the West where the history of Christianity has been one of cultural dominance and control ever since the Emperor Constantine converted and made the Roman Empire Christian in the 4th century AD.

Yet the plain fact is that Christians are languishing in jail for blasphemy in Pakistan, and churches are burned and worshippers regularly slaughtered in Nigeria and Egypt, which has recently seen its worst anti-Christian violence in seven centuries.

The most violent anti-Christian pogrom of the early 21st century saw as many as 500 Christians hacked to death by machete-wielding Hindu radicals in Orissa, India, with thousands more injured and 50,000 made homeless.

In Burma, Christians are routinely subjected to imprisonment, torture, forced labour and murder.

Persecution is increasing in China; and in North Korea a quarter of the country's Christians live in forced labour camps after refusing to join the national cult of the state's founder, Kim Il-Sung.

Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be a Christian.”

And we know of course it’s not only Christians, as we’ve seen with the Rohinja this year. But most people in the West would probably be surprised to learn who the most persecuted people in the world are.

According to the International Society for Human Rights, which is a secular group, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.

The Bible says that “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Jesus himself said, “everyone will hate you because of me.” But “happy are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

Joseph’s response in v14 is very like those Christians I just spoke about all over the world.

They escape as fugitives for a foreign land and the great unknown.

Verse 14; “So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.”

Fearful Times

For Mary and Joseph, the arrival of their baby was a new start. Their lives would never be the same again. All their hopes and longings for their new baby boy, all their dreams for the future must have felt so fragile.

And in v20 God says “Get up!” again, this time to move out of Egypt. It must have felt like their homelessness, rootlessness and the feeling of being hunted down would never end.

Do you get that feeling sometimes, that it’s just one thing after another, that trouble is relentless? Verse 22 says, “When Joseph heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.”

In all the uncertainties of their life Mary and Joseph felt real fear. What will become of us? What is going to happen to our baby?

Matters of Life and Death

Between 1899 and 1901 there was a great anti-colonial and anti-Christian uprising in China. It was a sudden national mood swing that brought severe persecution.

188 missionaries and 32,000 Chinese Christians were bound in public. Their noses and ears were cut off and eyes gouged out before they were beheaded.

Lizzy Atwater was an American missionary to China at that time. She was 22 years old and pregnant with her first child.

She wrote to her family on 3 August 1900. And this is what she wrote.

“Dear Ones, I long for a sight of your dear faces, but I fear we shall not meet on earth… I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. The Lord is wonderfully near, and He will not fail me. I was very restless and excited while there seemed a chance of life, but God has taken away that feeling, and now I just pray for grace to meet the terrible end bravely. The pain will soon be over, and oh the sweetness of the welcome above!

My little baby will go with me. I think God will give him to me in Heaven, and my dear mother will be so glad to see us. I cannot imagine the Savior’s welcome. Oh, that will compensate for all of these days of suspense. Dear ones, live near to God and cling less closely to earth. There is no other way by which we can receive that peace from God which passes understanding…. I must keep calm and still these hours. I do not regret coming to China, but am sorry I have done so little. My married life, two precious years, have been so very full of happiness. We will die together, my dear husband and I.

I used to dread separation. If we escape now it will be a miracle. I send my love to all of you, and the dear friends who remember me.”

Twelve days later, Lizzie, her husband, their unborn baby and six other missionaries were hacked to death.

Later, when Lizzie’s parents in Ohio, heard the dreadful news of the death of their daughter, son-in-law, and unborn grandchild, they said, through tears, “We do not begrudge them – we gave them to that needy land; China will yet believe the truth.”

Why did the devil single out China? Perhaps because of the extraordinary potential of the church in that land. In our own lifetimes, there has been an unprecedented revival in that country; estimates put the number of Christians there now at 100 million.

Lizzy’s blood, and that of her husband and unborn child, will be avenged by God alone. The Bible speaks of the terrible consequences that await those who “did not choose to fear the Lord,” like Herod.

But the sweetness of the gospel is this: no matter how low a human heart sinks, even as low as Herod’s, or lower still, it is never too low to be able to turn to God and be made new!

None of us here are anywhere near Herod’s league, but the Bible is clear that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Why be separated from God and his blessings forever if you don't have to? God loves you. If you had been the only person on earth, Jesus Christ would still have come as a baby, lived as a man, and gone to the cross and laid down his life for you. He loves you that much!

It may be that for some here today, right now, God is speaking and giving a fresh chance to turn to Christ. Don’t put it off to tomorrow! The Bible says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

That’s why Jesus came.

Ending

While you and I do not know what tomorrow holds, we do know the one who holds our tomorrows, and he says again to each of us, “Get up! The time to take action is now.”

Let’s pray...

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 31 December 2017

Three Presents (Luke 2.11)

Introduction

On the night that Jesus was born, the Bible says that there were some shepherds on the hills around Bethlehem.

And they were probably doing what shepherds always do; which is look after their sheep. They were

·         Checking that all the sheep were all O.K.

·         Making sure none of them wandered off.

·         Keeping the little lambs warm.

It was very dark. It was very quiet.

And then, all of a sudden, there was an unusual light in the night sky and a messenger from God appeared with some news for them.

But first of all, he had to say what all angels must say the minute they come into contact with any human being.

There must be standing instructions from heaven.

Job description: Angel. Page 1, first bullet point, says this: as soon as you are seen, or noticed, by any human being (man, woman or child) you are immediately to say the following three words: “Don’t be afraid.”

Right? Angels really freak people out. So everywhere you find angels in the Bible that’s always their opening line.

Anyway, once the formalities are taken care of, Luke 2.11 tells us what they say next. And here it is:

“This very day in King David’s hometown (that’s Bethlehem) a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.”

It’s a brief announcement, just 18 words long, 107 characters. But in this simple sentence, the shepherds learn three important things about the new-born baby called Jesus.

1. He is just what everyone was hoping for

The first thing is that this baby is just what they were all hoping for.

I’ve got three presents today that I thought I’d let you watch me open. I put them all in a blue Christmas present bag but I can’t seem to find it. Has anyone seen my present bag?

Let’s open my first present. Can I have a helper to get the wrapping off..?

Well, that’s exactly what I wanted. It has been on my wishlist a long time. I was really hoping for this Nativity DVD. I heard how good it is and so I was really hoping that someone would buy it for me.

It was on TV a few years ago. The script was written by Tony Jordan. He was an atheist, he didn’t believe in God at all, and he thought the first Christmas was just a fairy story. But when he researched it all carefully to write the script, it all made sense and he came to believe that it’s true. This right here is Lambert televisual heaven.

Is there anyone here who hasn’t yet opened their presents?

·         When do you open yours..?

·         What are you hoping to get for Christmas..?

When the angel told the shepherds that Jesus was the Christ, that meant that Jesus was just what everyone was hoping for.

Because everyone had been hoping that God would send a special king who would make everything better. That’s what the word ‘Christ’ means.

Jesus is the good king that God had promised. It’s great, isn’t it, when we get a present that’s just what we were hoping for.

2. He is more than anyone expected

The second thing the angel told the shepherds was that the baby was more than they were expecting.

Let’s open my second present... Oh, it’s a card. It’s just a card.

Let’s open it up… Can someone read my card..?

It’s from Great Aunt Bessie. Oh, there’s something else in the envelope. What’s this..? Oh! There are some twenty-pound notes. Well, I haven’t seen Great Aunt Bessie for years. I wasn’t expecting that.

She’s given me 100 quid, isn’t that kind of her? That’s so much more than I thought I’d get. Aunt Bessie and I  haven’t spoken for ages.

When the angels told the shepherds that Jesus was the Lord, it meant that Jesus was more than anyone was expecting.

They thought that God would send a special king, the Christ, but no one thought that he would be the Lord; God’s Son. Jesus is the Son of God. And that’s way more than anyone dreamed of.

Has anyone opened a present today that was more than they were expecting?

Isn’t it great when we get a present that’s just what we were hoping for and more than we were ever expecting? That’s who Jesus is.

3. He is exactly what we all really need

The third thing that the angel told the shepherds was that the baby was just what they needed.

Let’s open my third present...

It’s a woolly hat. Well, that’s just what I need. I’ve got no hair on my head to keep me warm in the winter and it gets really cold some days, so this hat is perfect.

When the angels told the shepherds that a Saviour was born for you, they realised that Jesus was just what they needed.

Everyone knew that it’s impossible to save ourselves to become friends of God. If we want to be friends with God, we need someone called a saviour to make it possible.

Jesus is the Saviour that God sent. And that’s exactly what we need.

Conclusion

It's brilliant when we get a present that’s

·         just what we’re hoping for

·         more than we were expecting

·         exactly what we need.

God has already given us the best present we could ever get because he gave us His Son, Jesus.

·         the Christ, the good king who takes care of everything;

just what everyone hopes for

·         the Lord, not just a person like you and me but God’s Son as well; more than anyone ever expected

·         the Saviour, who came to make us friends with God;

exactly what we all really need

I’m going to end with a short video of my friend Gram Seed. Some of you know him. He’s a real person who lives in Stockton.

Gram used to be a violent thug, a hooligan, a drug addict, in and out of prison, and an alcoholic tramp living on a bench.

His story shows just how much God loves us and what an amazing saviour he is.

Merry Christmas…

All-Age talk at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 25 December 2017

Adapted from a resource found on The Urban Pastor

A Saviour Is Born to You (Luke 2.1-20)

Our daughter is expecting her third child in January. They don’t want to be told whether it’s a boy or a girl; they like the element of surprise. I’m making no predictions as I usually get it wrong and I don’t want anyone blaming me for inappropriate purchases from the January sales based on my prophetic announcements.

William and Kate are expecting their third child too in April. The bookmakers are taking bets on possible names: Alice is the favourite at 8/1. Then joint second at 10/1 are Victoria, Henry and Arthur. John is a frankly disappointing 100/1, and if you fancy a flutter on an outsider, you can get 500/1 on Chardonnay, Jazmin, Donald or Wayne.

By the way, I have two friends called William Hill – what are the odds..?

When it came to the birth of the greatest figure the world has yet seen; the most known about, the most admired, the most quoted, the most influential, Jesus of Nazareth, his sex and name were both announced well before he was born. “You will conceive and give birth to a son,” said Gabriel to Mary, “and you are to call him Jesus.”

The name Jesus means “saviour.” But why do we need a Saviour? Why do we need salvation? What do we need saving from?

The answer lies in the tombs of 50 million victims of Stalin. And the 30 million killed under Mao. And in the killing fields full of bones in Cambodia and Rwanda, and Bosnia and Iraq and Syria.

Our species is a finely tuned killing machine. Of all the species in the animal kingdom only we humans make war on our unborn; 125,000 terminations worldwide every day. 2 million children are exploited for sex by perverts every year. 

And the BBC had the gall to produce a 13 part TV series called The Ascent of Man. Our problem is that the moral rise has not kept pace with the technological rise. We can eradicate polio but we can’t get rid of sin without a Saviour.

But the child to come into the world would save people. He would be a rescuer, one who brings forgiveness to the guilty, relief to the suffering, recovery to the lost, and life to the dead.

When this child grew up, he calmed storms with a word, he cleansed lepers with a touch, he opened the eyes of the blind, he discharged debtors, he drove out darkness from tormented souls, he helped paralytics to their feet, he brought hope to the powerless, he beautified the downtrodden, he even raised the dead.

Then he charged his followers, the movement of people who would be called “the church” to do likewise in his name.

More than sixty years ago, an obscure preacher from Chicago called Everett Swanson flew to South Korea to be a chaplain to American troops sent to fight in the Korean War.

During his time in Seoul, he grew increasingly troubled by the sight of hundreds of war orphans living on the streets and abandoned by society.

One morning he saw city workers scoop up what looked like piles of rags and toss them into the back of a lorry. He walked up to take a closer look - and was horrified to see that these were not rags, but the frozen bodies of orphans who had died overnight in the streets.

Swanson raised some money to start an orphanage and that developed into a unique sponsorship programme that allowed an individual in the Western world to provide education, food, clothing, shelter, medical check-ups and spiritual care in local church-based projects. Sponsors and children can exchange letters and visits can be arranged if requested.

Today, over 1.8 million children are sponsored by this ministry, in 25 different countries, for a less than £1 a day each. Several dozen members of All Saints’ are sponsors to children around the world.

It is a very large international organisation now, and it’s simply called Compassion, but that is only a drop in the bucket of the vast difference the church is making globally to bring about transformation to an acutely suffering world in the name of Jesus Christ.

All this is part of the fulfilment of the words of the angel to Mary in Luke 1. “He will be great… and his kingdom will never end.”

It’s part of the fulfilment of the words of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

This year, I learned about the story of Grace. Back in 1994, as the war continued to wreak havoc in Burundi, a nurse was in the public lavatories of a hospital when she spotted something moving in the toilet.

It was a premature baby that had been abandoned, and somehow it was still alive. The nurse fished the baby out, washed it in water, and contacted a Christian called Chrissie Chapman, who was the only person in Bujumbura taking in abandoned babies or orphans at the time.

Chrissie took the baby in aged five days old and weighing 5lb and gave her the most beautiful name, the only name, to capture what her little life embodied: Grace.

Chrissie had to give Grace because the open end of the umbilical cord had been in contact with the toilet water. Sadly, these antibiotics, due to their strength in high doses, were what probably led to Grace losing any sense of hearing.

A specialist diagnosed her deafness months later, but there was nothing that could be done. When Grace was 6 months old a pastor came by and offered to pray for her. He anointed her ears with oil and prayed for Grace’s hearing to be restored in the name of Jesus.

It seemed to make her worse! For the next three days, Grace screamed every minute she was awake. Nobody knew what to do.

It was only when someone accidentally slammed a door and Grace suddenly jolted that they realized her tears and screams were because she had been healed and could now hear what was going on around her.

That was 1994. Grace has matured into a delightful young lady. She is full of faith. She finished school with good grades and was awarded a four-year University scholarship. She knows that God has big plans for her life.

Her life was saved for a reason; her story has already impacted many lives, and she is amply fulfilling her fulfil her potential to God’s glory. She’s also committed to returning to Burundi after her studies to play her part in its healing and transformation.

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour… a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24 December 2017

The Ultimate Understatement

One of the things I like to do when I get a moment is to watch the live feed from the International Space Station with its HD camera pointed at our blue planet, turning slowly against the inky darkness of space.

I know this makes me something of a geek, but I don’t care; it's a view I never grow tired of.

Of course, you only see what is beautiful about our world; azure blue oceans, swirling cloud systems, snow-capped mountains, rainforests, coasts… You can’t see pollution, or warzones, or poverty or any other catastrophe of human making.

The question occurred to me the other week, looking at this; if I were God looking down past the beauty of the natural world I had created, and saw all around the ghastly mess my world had become and, being God, having infinite imagination and unlimited resources and endless possibilities at my fingertips… and if I had already decided to send a saviour to fix things… how would I do it? How would you do it?

Where would I situate my messiah? Maybe I would pick a place with optimal communications networks so everyone would know about it with live updates in real time.

I might choose a city at the heart of political power or artistic creativity so people would know that this Saviour was somebody important.

I might want to announce it with a great fanfare and put on a dazzling spectacle like an Olympic Games opening ceremony. That way, people would be impressed. I might pick parents of royal blood, or who were famous so the Saviour I sent would be born into a dynasty marked by greatness.

But what God actually did was disappointingly low-budget. He picked a minor, nothing town in the middle of nowhere called Bethlehem.

The Oxford or Cambridge of the ancient world, the centre of academic learning, with all its impressive philosophy, was Athens. God overlooked it.

The Washington DC, or the hub of political power, was Rome. God ignored it.

Bethlehem was neither here nor there; it was (as we will sing in a few minutes) a sleepy little town surrounded by fields. It was an irrelevance on the world stage.

Moreover, the precise location in that nothing town was a common shed in a side street. The hastily improvised bedroom furniture was a couple of haystacks and a feeding trough. The supporting cast were farm animals and a motley band of peasants smelling of sheep and B.O.

For one so special, why not a little more bling? Why did God snub the impressive, brand new temple just 6 miles up the road in Jerusalem, with its dressed stone and fine marble?

And the parents God chose for the one he sent to change the world were nobodies. Joseph was a tradesman; the first century equivalent of white-van man, complete with tool belt and pencil behind the ear.

Mary was a total nonentity; a teenage girl, probably uneducated, and both lived in a nondescript town called Nazareth which had all the charm and cultural prestige of somewhere like Basildon.

Why did God do it this way? Why so low-key?

Is it because God watched, century after century, traders and businessmen grasping greater market share, earning more money, making higher profits, and building bigger empires?

They would pay low wages, exploit their workforce, hide their wealth offshore to avoid tax, plunder natural resources, pollute the skies, foul the seas … whatever it took to acquire more, they did it.

They felt they would only find happiness by acquiring more and God saw that they would do anything to get it. But it never delivered.

God watched political rulers down the years, kings and emperors, presidents and generals, thinking they would be happier if they could increase their power, and rule over more territory with bigger populations?

He watched them blow the nation’s wealth on ever more sophisticated military hardware, send their armies out into battle, and shed the blood of millions, just to acquire more land and expand their influence.

They felt they would only find happiness by acquiring more and God saw that they would do anything to get it. But it never delivered.

But it’s not just the rich and powerful. We all want more. We are like moths to the flame of more. More is intoxicating. The insane pursuit of more; more money, more toys, more luxury, more power, more gadgets, more pleasure, more stuff, more, more, more; our human species is addicted to the drug of more but more has never once satisfied or enriched a single life.

In fact, the opposite is true. Statistically, New Year’s Day, just a week after people acquire a whole load of new stuff, sees the biggest spike in suicide rates all year (probably when thoughts turn to the credit card bill).

Did God do it in a shabby barn, in a small town, in a backwater province, with nobody parents to tell us that more is less and less is more?

Did God do it the way he did to show us that the relentless pursuit of having more … does not and cannot fulfil our deepest desires?

Maybe that is why God set about sending a Saviour to the world in the understated way he did…

But why did he choose to do it when he did? Why was the time of Augustus Caesar and Governor Quirinius and King Herod the Great the best moment, the optimal time?

The Bible says in Galatians 4 that the time God selected was just the right time. It says, “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman.” God carefully set the date. He picked a very specific, deliberate and significant moment to send this world a Saviour.

It is etched onto Jewish consciousness that their ancestors spent many years as captives in Egypt. They were oppressed and mistreated. They were weighed down for generations under a yoke of slavery. Generations of children were born into it and died under it. They looked to a day when they would be liberated.

The Bible says that this period of repression and tyranny lasted 430 years. Remember that number. 430 years! At the end of that time, God dramatically set them free with a miracle of deliverance. That’s the story of the birth of the Jewish nation, and the Hebrew Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) celebrate it over and over again.

Fast forward a few centuries, and the very last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, fell silent after promising that one day, a Saviour would come, bringing freedom, bringing life. “The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its rays,” he said. Then there was radio silence from heaven for 400 years, four full centuries between the last pages of the Old Testament and the first pages of the New.

At the end of that 400 year period, Jesus was born. God broke his silence and started speaking again. 30 years later, Jesus began his ministry saying “The time has come. Heaven has come to earth. I have come to set prisoners free.” 430 years of waiting, of longing, of anticipation, of hoping and then Jesus bursts onto the scene, and God works miracles of deliverance not just for the Jewish people this time, but for the whole world.

The time was right. The moment had come.

I wonder if tonight is a special time, a right time, an optimal time for you to respond with your heart (maybe for the very first time) to the new-born King who came to set people free from the tyranny of more and the slavery of sin?

I’ll end with the true story of a wild young Russian. His life revolved around eating, drinking, music, revelling and the company of women. He lived for more.

He got involved in a movement for political and social revolution during the repressive reign of Tsar Nicholas I. He got arrested, was tried and they condemned him to death.

On a bitterly cold morning at dawn, he was in a line of prisoners led out against a wall to be shot. A drum began to beat. The prisoners were blindfolded. The guards loaded their ammunition. They raised their muskets. The command came to take aim. And then, at the very last moment, a white flag was raised to announce the news that the Tsar had commuted their sentence to life imprisonment in Siberia.

As he arrived in Siberia on Christmas Eve 1849, at the age of twenty-eight, two women ran up to him and slipped him a New Testament.

While in prison, he read it from cover to cover and learnt much of it by heart. He later wrote, ‘I believe that there is no one more lovely, more profound, more sympathetic and more perfect than Jesus. I say to myself with jealous love, not only is there no one else like him, but there never could be anyone like him.’

The man’s name was Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the greatest Russian novelist of his generation.

Jesus changed that man’s life. Jesus still changes lives today. Jesus changed my life. Jesus may have changed yours. If he hasn’t, is today the day when you ask him to?

We have Gospels of Luke to give away. They’re free. It’s the story of Jesus. The Gospel contains 24 chapters, each one takes about five or ten minutes to read. If you’ve never read Luke’s Gospel before, why don’t you take one away and read one chapter each day and ask God to reveal himself to you as you do?

Merry Christmas to you all.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 17 December 2017

A Child Is Born, a Son Is Given (Isaiah 9.1-7)

Introduction

Seven years ago, Kathie and I got a phone call from our son to tell us the news that he had become a dad. We logged onto Facebook and saw the pictures of our first grandchild. We studied the photos carefully, and decided our granddaughter had the best possible start in life – she looked absolutely nothing like me!

The announcement of the birth of a new baby is guaranteed to spread a bit of cheer. Two of the best known prophecies in Isaiah both feature in Handel’s Messiah and are birth announcements. We’ll look at the “Immanuel” prophecy next week, but today we’re going to focus on chapter 9 which says: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

Isn’t December a gloomy sort of month? Every shop has got Slade and Wizard playing on a wearisome loop over the PA. England’s cricket team is getting humiliated by the Aussies. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dark…

But in the middle of all that darkness, there are lights decorating our homes and streets. There are evergreen trees with tinsel and baubles. There’s the smell of scented candles and mulled wine.

The backcloth to Isaiah’s prophecy is a once great nation with an empire called Judah, now diminished and in acute decline, torn apart by civil war, squeezed by powers around it, including the growing superpowers of Assyria and Babylon which would eventually smash it into oblivion.

Judah at that time was ruled by a weak and corrupt king called Ahaz. He had abandoned the living God, and embraced superstitions and idols. He bowed down to the stars. He even sacrificed his son as an offering to the pagan god Molech. Like December in north-east England, Isaiah’s Judah was a dark and gloomy place.

But out of nowhere he says,

“There will be no more gloom” (v1).

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, and on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (v2).

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given (v6).

“Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (v7).

There’s going to be a royal baby; a boy (v6).

I predicted that our first child would be a boy. We had a little girl. Then I predicted that our next three would all be girls. All were boys. Predicting the sex of a child is not that hard; there’s a 50% chance of getting it right – unless you’re me. Then there’s a 100% chance of getting it wrong.

He also says where the child is going to be from (v1). It says God “will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea.” That’s where the light will shine.

In other words, in the north. Nothing good ever happened in the north. No one important came from the north. The engine of the economy and the centre of power were down south. But Isaiah says, “Well, all that’s changing.”

The thing is this. At the same time that Isaiah was speaking, there was another prophet called Micah. And Micah was saying “Look, there’s going to be a new baby, a great ruler, and he will be from the south, in a village called Bethlehem, about 80 miles south of Galilee.

You see how the Bible contradicts itself? Was Jesus from the north or the south? Well, he did grow up and minister in Galilee as the New Testament clearly says. Jesus of Nazareth.

But he was born in Bethlehem, as the New Testament also clearly says and it tells us how God arranged an astronomical marvel, a new Roman poll tax, and an international census to get his heavily pregnant mum to the right place at the right time so his prophetic word would be fulfilled in exact and precise detail.

Let me tell you something. God watches over his word. He is careful to honour every promise in his word to you and he will do what he has said he will do, no more, no less.

He will be with you wherever you go, and will not forsake you. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. No, nothing will or can separate you from his love. His great and precious promises to you have the copper-bottomed guarantee of Jesus Christ his Son.

Don’t let appearances to the contrary let you lose your focus. Is it north? Is it south? God knows what he is talking about, and you can trust… his… word.

He doesn’t mention when the child will be born – which is just as well. People would be saying, “Oh great, a royal baby. When’s it due? August? September?” Isaiah didn’t know when it would happen. It’s just as well, otherwise he would have to say, “A bit later than September – it’s going to happen in about 700 years’ time.”

And he gives no name for this new king who’s going to come as a light and change the gloomy spiritual atmosphere. But Jesus has about 200 names and titles, more than any other figure in history, and you find four of them here.

1. Wonderful Counsellor

Firstly, Wonderful Counsellor. Looking back over 2017, what a year it’s been. We have a non-stop conflict zone across the Middle-East, a lunatic firing off ballistic missiles over the Sea of Japan, the most powerful man on earth firing off impulsive tweets at 3 in the morning, a dispersed and increased threat of Islamist terrorism, modern piracy, modern slavery, mass shootings, civil unrest, vast refugee movements, polluted oceans, global warming… and that’s just the headlines.

We are undoubtedly living in a world of increased stresses and strains. Our world leaders don’t know what to do. These are impossible situations.

We know that in life’s most difficult, most complex situations we need wisdom and expertise. It’s why mountaineers look for local guides. It’s why government ministers have advisers. It’s why the Queen has a Privy Council. It’s why big business hires consultants. It’s why leaders look for mentors. It’s why sportsmen and women need coaches.

It’s why we have trauma counsellors, marriage guidance counsellors, hospital counsellors, career counsellors, bereavement and divorce counsellors, post-natal counsellors…

Counsellors listen, encourage and show understanding, but they also help their clients to see their issues more clearly or in a different way. 

The world needs wise counsel. Someone who can solve the irresolvable. Someone who can instantly see the heart of the problem. Someone who brings clarity and light.

Jesus was constantly presented with impossible conundrums. How often did he say, “Err, I’ll think about that and get back to you”? Or “I need to consult with my lawyers before I can give a reply”? Jesus always diagnosed the problem, knew what to do about it, and said it in plain language.

If you know Jesus personally you know from experience that he is a supernatural source of breath-taking wisdom. The more you lay your life before him in prayer, the more light you see.

2. Mighty God

Secondly, Mighty God. With the problems our world brings on itself, the leader we need is not just one who knows what to do, but who actually delivers. We need someone who can do the impossible.

Every generation is blighted by tyrants who say they can do the impossible, and think they’re the great I AM; Saddam Hussein, Colonel Ghaddafi, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Un, Robert Mugabe…. They all set themselves up as above criticism, and accountable to no one. But they all come to nought.

But this child is going to be called “Mighty God.” He will turn water into wine, he will calm storms with a word, he will cleanse lepers, he will feed 5,000 people with a child’s picnic, he will open blind eyes, he will set the lame dancing, he will walk on water and even raise the dead. He is the Great I AM.

There is no greater power in the universe than the might and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mighty God!

3. Everlasting Father

Thirdly, Everlasting Father. Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” He said, “I will not leave you orphans.” He said, “Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father.”

Sadly, not all of us have a good mental image of God because our experience of earthly fatherhood is so deficient.

But Jesus loves you as a good father delights in his child; His commitment towards you is steadfast, immovable, unwavering and enduring. You are treasured. He already knows the worst about you, and still loves you.

Good fathers protect and provide. Like Jesus. He is your strength and shield, you are utterly secure in him.

Good fathers teach and train their children. Like Jesus. His word is in you and, as you follow him, he instructs you in the way you should go.

One of the happiest moments of my life was when I was about 5 years old. I got lost on Chalkwell beach near Southend. I wandered around crying, scared, looking desperately for my family. Then there he was, my dad, oh the relief!

Our earthly fathers all die; we write touching eulogies, we carry their coffins in and out of church, we say goodbye, we shed a tear and miss them.

But Jesus is the everlasting father. Long before you were conceived or born he was a father to you, and long after you’ve died, he will still be there for you and love you.

4. Prince of Peace

And fourthly, he is the Prince of Peace. One evening in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, Jesus said to his closest friends, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”

The world offers one sort of peace. As one wit put it, the peace that the world gives is that lovely moment when everyone reloads their rifles.

But Jesus inspires peace even between bitter enemies. The unofficial World War 1 truce in No-Man’s-Land between German and British troops broke out when both sets of soldiers began to sing Christmas carols.

For a brief moment, when they turned their hearts to Jesus, they were empowered to put their weapons down, shake hands, play football (which obviously Germany won on penalties) and exchange gifts. This is what happens when the Prince of Peace is allowed to reign.

He can settle every war, resolve every conflict, restore every stormy marriage, mend every broken family, and heal every torn community. He is the Prince of Peace.

Ending

At the first Christmas a child was born and a Son was given.

But the government is not yet upon his shoulders. That is still to come, when he returns to reign and every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

But wherever he is invited to reign his kingdom comes.

Do you need wisdom today? Are you lost and confused? Do you not know where to turn? Do you need to hear the voice of Wonderful Counsellor whose word brings light? His name is Jesus, and he is here.

Do you need a touch of heavenly power today? Do you need a miracle? Are you desperate for a breakthrough? Do you need Mighty God to stretch out his arm and bring salvation and deliverance? His name is Jesus, and he is here.

Are you afraid, like a lost child, today? Do you need the reassurance of a loving, protecting, caring, strong, wise father who will never leave, nor forsake you? Do you need to feel the embrace of Everlasting Father? His name is Jesus, and he is here.

Or is your life in turmoil today? Is there a torn relationship with a colleague, a parent, a husband, a wife, a child, a neighbour, a friend? Do you need to make the first move and bring in the reign of the Prince of Peace? His name is Jesus, and he is here.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 10 December 2017